Prior art mowing machines such as mulching lawn mowers typically include a housing or deck that has a flap cut therein. This flap is normally spring loaded and biased in a downward direction. When the flap is down, the deck has a continuous inner and outer surface so as to retain cut grass and other lawn clippings within the housing for mulching and downward ejection from the housing onto the lawn. When the flap is raised, an operator can attach an accessory chute at the opening to direct cut grass out of and away from the housing. The accessory chute is typically attached by lifting the flap, placing the accessory chute under the flap, extending fingers on the accessory chute partially around the pivot point of the flap, and releasing the flap. The accessory chute is held in place by the pressure of the flap on the accessory chute.
As can readily be appreciated by persons skilled in the art, this prior art arrangement has numerous disadvantages. First and foremost, requiring a separate removable accessory for ejecting lawn clippings out and away from the mower is inefficient and inconvenient. An operator often places the chute away from the mower, leading to tedious trips back and forth from the mower storage area, and often resulting in loss of the accessory. Secondly, the irregular shape of a typical accessory chute makes it inconvenient to permanently attach to a typical mulching mower. It can be appreciated that any attempt to permanently attach a typical accessory chute to a mulching mower would result in an unwieldy and less maneuverable mower.
One typical chute is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,988 to Schweitz et al. The flap containing a unitary curved surface forms a chute for deflecting cut grass out and away from the housing (FIGS. 1–9). The flap is also able to rotate around a horizontal axis in order to attach a larger chute or collection bag. Despite this structure, there still is no way to close the housing so as to enter a mulching mode. Another integrated chute design is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,311 to Holland, which employs a spring loaded flap that rotates about a vertical axis (FIGS. 16 and 17). The flap is biased away from the housing and is designed to collapse if it contacts an obstacle, but the flap is not designed to operate in two distinct modes. The chute described by Holland is not capable of securing against the housing wall so as to enter a mulching mode, and there is likewise no securing mechanism to keep the chute secured in its open position.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide chute apparatuses and methods for use with a mowing machine to selectively maintain cut grass clippings within the housing, such as for mulching, or to discharge the grass clippings from the housing through a chute by selectively and easily opening a discharge chute without the need for tools or other separate attachments.